General copyright guidance

This sets out copyright guidance for staff, students, and others working on behalf of University of Dundee in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. It is intended to provide guidance on using copyrighted materials for research, teaching and study and clarify Intellectual Property rights to works produced while at the University. Although the University oversees compliance with current legislation and licenses held, copyright compliance is the responsibility of every staff member and student at the University. Non-compliance can result in legal challenges, fines, and reputational damage for the University of Dundee, staff and students.

Information on these pages is for general guidance only; it does not constitute formal legal advice.

What is copyright? 

Summary introduction 

• The legislation relating to copyright in the UK is the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended). 
• Copyright is an intellectual property right which grants certain rights to the copyright owner (usually the creator of the original work) to control the way their material may be used, reproduced and exploited.
• Copyright protection is granted automatically in the UK without needing to be declared. The copyright can then be bought, licensed or assigned. 
• The main purposes of Copyright are to allow the originators of copyrighted material to gain recognition and economic reward for the work that they produce. 
• It is a right "arising automatically on the expression of an idea in a tangible form". This means an idea is not protected by copyright unless recorded in some way. Copyright gives legal protection to creators of certain kinds of works to prevent unfair use of those works. 
• While it is common to see copyright works marked with the international copyright symbol © this is not necessary in the UK to obtain copyright. 
• Authors under the Act also have "moral rights". This is the right to be identified as the author, the right to object to derogatory treatment of a work, the right to privacy of certain photographs and films, and the right to prevent false attribution of a work. 

What is protected by copyright? 

• Original literary works, books, text on website, newspaper articles, course materials 
• Sound records including CDs, tapes, audio files 
• Films including videos, broadcasts, audio visual files 
• Artistic works including paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs 
• Original dramatic and musical works, including works of dance or mime 
• Typographical arrangements e.g. copying of the layout or arrangement of text, promotional literature, advertising
• Computer software, databases 

The economic rights of the copyright owner 

These relate to: 

• copying the work; 
• issuing copies to the public; 
• renting or lending the work; 
• publicly performing, showing or playing the work; 
• adaptation of the work;
• and communication to the public (ie. broadcasting the work)

How long does copyright protection last? 

Generally literary copyright lasts for 70 years following the death of the creator. For sound recordings and computer-generated works it lasts for 50 years from the date of recording or creation respectively. Copyright in typographical arrangements rests with the publisher for 25 years following the date of publication. More guidance can be found on the UK Government website.

Exceptions to copyright

There are some limited exceptions to copyright laid out in full here in the UK Government guidance. These exceptions do not give rights to use copyrighted material, they simply state certain activities that do not infringe the rights of the copyright holder. These include limited use for non-commercial research and private study. Copyright is infringed where either the whole or a "substantial part" of a work is used without permission, unless it falls within one of the exceptions. A substantial part can mean a "qualitative" significant part. This means that even a small portion of the whole work can still be a "substantial part". 

Fair dealing 

Fair dealing is an exception to UK Copyright law that allows for the use of a copyrighted work for non-commercial purposes and is accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement. Exceptions for fair dealing include:

• research and study
• criticism, review or news reporting
• parody, caricature and pastiche
• quotation
• text and data mining for non-commercial research

The Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002 also allows the making of a single accessible copy for the personal use of a partially sighted person. Any large print format copy must not however be commercially available.  

Orphan works

Orphan Works are works that are subject to copyright where one or more of the right holders is either unknown or cannot be located. The UK's Orphan Works Register allows for the licensing of Orphan Works for commercial or non-commercial purposes within the UK unless exemptions apply. The license lasts for 7 years with allowance for subsequent renewal and is a non-exclusive license that can be licensed to multiple individuals.

Prior to licensing an Orphan Work you must complete a diligent search for the rights holder(s) and submit your findings and proposed usage of the work as part of your application. There is a small fee for submitting an application and for licensing the work if your application is accepted. If the rightsholder is later located no further licenses will be issued, and ongoing applications may be halted. Copyright On the Internet 

Under UK law, any material on the web is protected by copyright, as it would be on any other media. Distributing or downloading copyright material from the internet without the owner’s permission may amount to infringement. Downloading entire contents of an electronic journal to your PC, home file space or writable CD is illegal. See also Government guidance concerning Copyright and AI.

Licences held by the University 

CLA Higher Education licence 

The CLA Higher Education License governs the University of Dundee’s digitisation and photocopying activities undertaken by staff and students (authorised persons.) 

This licence: 

• permits reprographic copying (onto paper from paper) of multiple copies (see amounts below) by or for the benefit of University staff and students 
• allows the Library to make digital copies of copyrighted material for use in teaching. These copies must be accessed via Secure Authentication allowing only Authorised persons access and must be reported to the Copyright Licensing Agency annually. No scanning should be undertaken by academic staff, and all requests should be submitted to [email protected] where if approved these will be made available to course students via an online reader.
• enables copies only to be made from Licensed Material published in the UK or the Mandating Territories. These include most English-speaking countries and most of Europe apart from items in the List of Excluded Works. Lists of US Publishers, Mandating Territories and Excluded Works.
• covers copying for all University courses including non-credit

Permitted amounts copied must not exceed either singly or in aggregate the greater of 10% of any published edition, or 

• in the case of a book 10% or one complete chapter, whichever is greatest; 
• in the case of an article in an issue of a serial publication or in a set of conference proceedings, two whole articles in any single issue; or (except for any CCC Electronic-Rights Works), where the issue, or a substantial part of it, is dedicated to a particular theme (ie. special issues) any number of articles dealing with that particular theme;
• in the case of an anthology of short stories or poems one short story or poem not exceeding ten (10) pages in length; 
• in the case of a published report of judicial proceedings, the entire report of a single case. 

Further information on the special provisions applying to copyright issues for partially sighted persons can be found at www.rnib.org.uk 

Educational Recording Agency (ERA) 

The University is licensed by the Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Ltd. The license allows for staff and students at educational establishments to legally make recordings or copies of TV and radio programmes for educational purposes without seeking permission directly from copyright holders. The license covers material created by ERA Members, the full list of members can be found on the ERA website. The ERA License does not allow for license holders to use material for any commercial or promotional activity, or for public performances of the material. Full details of the license terms can be found on the ERA license terms page. 

Ordnance survey - Educational copyright 

The University is licensed to reproduce ordnance survey copyright material for educational, research and teaching purposes to: 

• copy maps 
• use digital mapping 
• show up to ten 200 square cm bitmap images on the University website 
• copy mapping as a location map in a prospectus or brochure. 

For further information see Ordnance Survey. 

Open University recordings 

Open University broadcasts are not covered by the University's ERA Licence. An Open University Licence is separately held by the University. This permits recordings to be made for official teaching purposes. An annual audit of recordings erasures is requested by the administrators of the Scheme. Detailed records of holdings, recordings and erasures must therefore be kept by all Faculties/Departments/Schools and all other parts of the University where such recordings are made or used.

Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) 

The University holds an NLA Licence which permits it to copy excerpts from newspapers which are represented by the NLA on the basis of a fee determined by the size of the University, subject to tally of amounts of material utilised. The purposes licensed are management and teaching. For further details see NLA Media Access. 

Public Screen Licence (PVS) 

As an educational establishment, the University is able to show videos, DVDs etc to audiences of staff and students "where this is in the activities of the establishment or for the purpose of instruction" without any clearing rights. SALLS, however, has obtained a Public Screening Licence (PVS). This is to show films as an entertainment programme not within University activities. It is limited to their own usage, specific to a particular premises, and for a group number specified. It excludes showing to members of the public. 

Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) and Performing Rights Society (PRS) 

The University holds TheMusicLicense from PPL PRS. This license allows most recorded music that is commercially available to be played at several sites around the University. For music used in performance additional permits may be necessary. For more information on what is covered by the license and how to declare live performances please contact the Music License and inform the University’s External Relations team.

Reproduction of Crown and Parliamentary copyright material 

Detailed guidance on the conditions relating to the reproduction of Crown and Parliamentary copyright material is available from Legislation.gov.uk. 

Ownership of student/staff IPR  

• Undergraduate students 

All undergraduate students retain their own intellectual property rights relating to any work they do while attending University. Specific instances may require individual assignations by students in favour of the University where appropriate, e.g. where the student is the holder of a Wellcome Vacation Studentship (to enable the University to comply with the grant conditions). 

• Postgraduate students - Research courses 

Since 1991, all postgraduate students, registered for a Research Degree, are invited to sign an Assignation of their IPR in favour of the University at the time when they matriculate. This assignation places the postgraduate students in the same position as a full-time member of staff, i.e. the University owns their intellectual property and manages it in accordance with the usual Court Guidelines.

• Postgraduate students - Taught courses 

There is a distinction between students registered for research courses and those registered for taught courses at postgraduate level. The latter are not asked to assign their intellectual property to the University and therefore remain beneficial owners to all material they produce. This is relevant for departments which may wish to publish copyright material owned by students as departmental publications etc. (subject to consent of the relevant students) 

• Staff 

According to UK Employment Law the employer is the first owner of the rights of any work made in the course of your employment, including teaching materials, unless you have made a contractual agreement to the contrary. Academic staff are encouraged to undertake externally funded opportunities including the commercialisation and exploitation of research outputs. However, staff should be conscious of the potential risks and implications of engaging with external bodies and safeguarding the University’s Intellectual Property rights in line with the requirements of the University Court. For more information contact Research & Innovation Services.

Under the Lecture Capture Policy lecturers retain copyright and performance rights to recorded lectures but grant the University of Dundee an exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use them in line with this policy. Under the University’s Policy and Guidelines on the Recording of Lectures students are permitted to make audio-recordings of lectures for personal study. However, visual recording of lectures is not permitted unless explicit permission is granted by the lecturer, or as a reasonable adjustment for disabled students.

Retention of copyright

As well as at the University of Dundee, over 60 UK institutions (and many more worldwide) have implemented a rights retention strategy into their University’s research publications policy.

What does this mean for authors? 

• Maintain author choice 
• Maximise benefits for authors
  • sufficient rights to make research outputs available for immediate open access
  • ensures liberal sharing and reuse rights
  • increases the utility of accepted manuscripts for teaching and research.

Who does it apply to?

Applies to University of Dundee employees (including honorary staff) where publication is an expectation of their employment, and to postgraduate and undergraduate students (referred to as ‘researcher’ within the policy). What output types can you apply a rights retention statement to?

Journal articles and conference proceedings.

This provision does not apply to monographs, book chapters, edited collections, and textbooks. However, authors are strongly encouraged to make these output types open access through Discovery. What can you do to enact rights retention?

First refer ‘retention of copyright’ in the ‘Policy to govern the publication of research’

Act on submission. At the point of submission for publication, add a rights retention statement* to the 'acknowledgement' section of the manuscript and the cover letter (if applicable):

“For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission”

*Not compulsory to add, but good practice to ensure transparency.

The Rights Retention Statement is set out in our statement on Rights Retention for authors.

On acceptance. Provide an electronic copy of the Author Accepted Manuscript to the Library ([email protected]) which will be uploaded to the institutional repository, Discovery, and made publicly available upon publication with no restriction.